The two signs

Hester Thrale wrote in Thraliana "While Mr Thrale was ill I used to attend the Counting house for him; one day a Story was brought me of a Man that kept an Alehouse—the Crown & Thistle being broke, the Sign had been a Crown & Cushion, but he changed it they told me though his Predecessor had prosper’d quite well too.—the following Epigram came into my head & I wrote it to divert my Master, who made me print it in the publick Advertiser."

What though blest in a Queen that her Station adorns,
       Though possess’d of Health, Virtue & Power;
My Crown says the King is all planted with Thorns,
       I can hardly be happy an Hour:

Says a sly Wag of Windsor who heard him repine,
        Your Majesty must not take this ill;
The old Crown and Cushion’s a good thriving Sign
       But you’re prick’d by the Crown & the Thistle

Written by Hester Lynch Thrale.
Published in Public Advertiser 7 July 1779.
Thraliana entry dated July 1779. Hester Thrale's spelling, grammar and capitalisation, some of which may not conform to today's standards, are reproduced faithfully throughout.